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Title

Auxiliary-purchased mamaRoo® soothes crying babies - Archived

Date

04/04/2014

Article

Some babies born at CAMC Women and Children's Hospital don't get to go home with parents right away due to various medical reasons. These babies, known as boarder babies, have a tendency for excess crying and nursery employees need a way to help soothe them.

"We used to have metal rockers for babies in the nursery," said Mary Gargarella, newborn nursery and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) volunteer. "Those wore out, so we had to find something to replace them that were hospital-approved."

Gargarella saw a mamaRoo® while volunteering in the NICU one day. She asked what it was and where it was purchased.

"I went to the auxiliary and told them I had found a hospital-approved rocker for our long-term babies," Gargarella said. "Everyone was delighted and voted that we purchase them for the nursery."

Each CAMC auxiliary provides assistance to its respective hospital. Each hospital has its own auxiliary and board made up of CAMC volunteers.

"The purpose of the auxiliaries is to carry out projects within the hospitals that might improve patient care and morale," said Kristy
Fidler, volunteer services director. "The mamaRoo® purchase is a perfect example of this type of project."

"These mamaRoos® are wonderful," Gargarella said. "Sometimes a nurse has several babies in the nursery at the same time. If there is a lot of crying, we put those babies in the mamaRoos® so that they can be soothed when people's hands are busy doing other things."

The mamaRoo® is manufactured by 4moms. It comes in various fabrics that are machine washable. It is the only hospital-approved rocker. It has five speeds, five motions, five different sounds and can also be connected to an mp3 player.

"Our six auxiliary sales throughout the year allow us to make money to purchase things like this for the hospital," Gargarella said. "We spend a lot of money during the year, not only for the babies, but all of the patients in the hospital."

For more information about volunteer services or the hospital auxiliaries, call (304) 388-7426 or visit camc.org/volunteer.